Santorini Travel Guide

Santorini in 2026 is an island recovering its crowds after the 2025 earthquake scare, now charging cruise passengers €20 a head in summer and €10 for the cable car. The caldera view still sells itself, but the island rewards people who come in May or October, ride the €2.20 buses and sleep away from the rim.

Photo: Pedro Szekely from Los Angeles, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Updated October 2026

BootsnAll Scorecard

4.8 / 10

Santorini scores well on the view and the buses and badly on price and timing, because a caldera-side island this small has only so much room and most of it is sold by the night.

Value
3
Near the 2 anchor, since caldera-view restaurants charge 30 to 50 percent more than side streets and five-star rooms add €15 a night in fees, lifted only by €2.20 buses and Perissa dorms from about US$16.
Getting around
5.5
Just above the 5 anchor, because KTEL buses reach every village for €2.20 to €2.80 and leave Fira for Oia every half hour, but nearly every route runs through Fira, full buses skip stops, and taxis are scarce and shared.
Crowds and timing
3
Close to the 2 anchor, as the airport handled 471,663 passengers in August 2026 against 22,218 that January, cruise tenders pour into Fira on summer days, and most hotels shut from late October until Orthodox Easter.
Safety and hassle
6.5
Between the 5 and 8 anchors, with little street crime but documented ATV rental scams, padded restaurant bills, unguarded cliff edges, rockfalls on the port road and a live seismic zone.
Food and drink
6
A notch above the 5 anchor, because fava, tomato fritters, Assyrtiko and vinsanto are local and excellent, while much of Oia and Fira serves overpriced generic Greek food to people looking at the sunset.
Indie fit
4.5
Just under the 5 anchor, since the island is built around honeymoon suites, cruise shore excursions and boat tours, though public buses, the rim trail and the local ferry to Thirassia let you do it yourself.

Editorial scores, 1 to 10, against the same written anchors for every city. Half points allowed. The overall is the plain average of the six.

Overview and Things to Consider

Santorini is the rim of a drowned volcano. The main island, Thira, curls in a crescent around a flooded caldera, and its towns sit along the inner cliff edge with nothing between the terraces and the water but a few hundred meters of air. Fira, the capital, stands about 220 meters above its old port. Oia sits at the northern tip and gets the famous sunset. The whole municipality, including the second inhabited island of Thirassia, had 15,480 people at the 2021 census, which is why the summer numbers feel so lopsided.

You'll love Santorini if the view is the point and you're willing to plan around it. Walk the rim from Fira to Oia, swim off a black-sand beach in Perissa, taste Assyrtiko in a winery that trains its vines into baskets, and you'll understand why people come back. You'll hate it if you want a Greek island that feels lived in. Caldera hotels are mostly small, stair-heavy places for couples, some don't take children under 13, and in Oia at sunset you're one of thousands holding a phone up.

The 2026 moment is a rebound with new rules. An earthquake swarm in early 2025 emptied the island for weeks, and airport traffic for 2025 fell 16 percent to 2.42 million passengers. Through August 2026 it was up 4.5 percent on the year before. Meanwhile Greece now charges cruise passengers €20 a head to land here in high season, the cable car went from €6 to €10, and in June 2026 tour-bus drivers struck over missing parking and a port fund rule splitting cruise passengers between Fira and Athinios.

Some of it is overrated. Oia's sunset is a crowd event, and the lighthouse at Cape Akrotiri faces the same sea with a fraction of the people. Red Beach is a crowded patch of shore below a crumbling cliff. And the blue domes on every postcard are a handful of churches photographed from different angles.

How Santorini Got Here

About 3,600 years ago this was a round-ish island with a thriving Bronze Age town at Akrotiri on its south coast. Then the volcano blew. The Minoan eruption, among the largest in recorded history, threw out an estimated 61 cubic kilometers of magma and rock, collapsed the island's center into the sea and buried Akrotiri under ash so deep that its streets, multi-story houses and frescoes survived. Spyridon Marinatos began the modern dig in 1967. The volcano never quite went quiet. The Kameni islands in the middle of the caldera first broke the surface in 197 BC, Nea Kameni rose in 1707, and the last small eruption ended in 1950.

The name comes from Saint Irene, recorded as Santurin by the geographer al-Idrisi around 1154. After the Fourth Crusade the island went to the Duchy of Naxos, and the Latin lords left behind the castle quarters you still walk through in Pyrgos and Emporio. The Ottomans took it in 1576. By the middle of the 19th century Santorini was trading busily abroad and shipping its whole wine harvest to Russia. After World War II, with factories closing and work moving to Athens, the island slid into poverty. In 1954 it had about 12,000 people, one jeep, a small bus and its donkeys and mules.

Then came the morning of July 9, 1956. An earthquake and its aftershock killed 53 people on the island and brought down 35 percent of its houses, worst of all along the caldera edge at Oia. Many of the survivors left for Athens. The rebuilding coincided with the first tourists, helped along by the shipowner Evangelos Nomikos, who offered the island a hotel in the early 1950s. His newly built Hotel Atlantis came through the quake intact and served as a hospital. Pumice quarrying in the cliffs stopped in 1986 to protect the caldera. What you see now is a postwar rebuild sold as timeless.

Getting There and Around

Most travelers come through Athens, and you have a choice of a short flight or a long ferry. Blue Star Ferries sails daily from Piraeus, gates E6 and E7, in a little over six hours, with fares from €46.50 to €59 on Ferryhopper's October 2026 listings. Seajets' high-speed boats do it in about five hours from €89.70, and Fast Ferries' slower boats take 8 to 10 hours from €48. Aegean, Sky Express and Volotea fly from Athens in 30 to 45 minutes. Wikivoyage contributors warn that summer flights sell out well before the ferries do.

Santorini (Thira) National Airport (JTR), run by Fraport Greece, sits about 6 kilometers southeast of Fira. In season it gets direct flights from much of Europe, and Wikivoyage's list of seasonal routes includes easyJet, Volotea and Vueling services which can save the Athens connection if you're coming from London, Rome or Venice. The terminal is small and crowded, and passengers can't drop bags more than two hours before departure. A KTEL bus to Fira takes about 10 minutes and costs €2.20. Wikivoyage put taxis at €30 to €40 to Fira in 2025, and the walk is 5.5 kilometers, about 90 minutes.

Ferries dock at Athinios, a concrete shelf at the foot of the cliff. Every vehicle leaving it climbs a road with seven hairpin bends, and that road is the island's weak point. On March 19, 2026, rockfalls after storms closed it and halted ship arrivals and departures while ferries waited offshore. KTEL buses meet each ferry and charge €2.70 to Fira. Cruise passengers land somewhere else, by tender at the old port under Fira, and from there it's the cable car, a donkey or 588 steps.

Entry follows Schengen rules. Americans, Britons, Canadians and Australians can stay 90 days in any 180 without a visa, and EU citizens walk through. Your passport must have been issued within the last ten years and stay valid three months past your departure from the Schengen area. The EU's biometric Entry/Exit System has run at all Schengen borders since April 10, 2026, so expect fingerprints and a photo on first entry, though the UK government says Greece has indicated it won't take biometrics from British travelers. ETIAS, the €20 pre-travel authorization, is scheduled for 2027 and isn't required yet.

On the island, KTEL Santorini runs everything that matters. Its May 2026 price list charges €2.20 for most rides, €2.70 to Perissa or the port and €2.80 to Vlychada, plus 25 percent between 00:30 and 05:00. Nearly every line starts at the bus station in Fira, so going from Oia to Perissa means two tickets and a change. The posted timetable shows Oia buses every half hour from 09:30 to 21:00 and the airport hourly. Wikivoyage reports tickets are sold on board for cash, and that full summer buses skip intermediate stops. Taxis are few and often shared. Scooters, cars and ATVs fill the gap, and the roads show it.

What's Changed Since 2016

Visitor numbers climbed hard, then broke. In 2016 the airport handled 1.71 million passengers. By 2024 it was 2.88 million, and in 2024 Fortune reported the mayor had capped cruise visitors at 8,000 a day and cut the days each ship could call from 63 to 48. Then came 2025, when the earthquake swarm knocked air traffic down 16 percent for the year, with spring months down more than 20 percent. By August 2026 numbers were recovering, up 4.5 percent year on year but still well below 2024.

The earthquakes themselves are the biggest change in how the island feels. From late January 2025, hundreds of undersea tremors hit between Santorini, Amorgos and Anydros, and the strongest, magnitude 5.3, came on February 10. Around 6,000 people left by ferry from February 2 and up to 2,700 by air, the old port was closed for tsunami risk, and a state of emergency ran from February 6 to March 3, 2025. Scientists later pointed to a deep magma intrusion. Every settlement now has marked assembly points.

Getting off a ship got more expensive and more political. From July 21, 2025, Greece charges cruise passengers €20 to land at Santorini or Mykonos from June through September, €12 in April, May and October and €4 in winter, against €5 at most other Greek ports. By June 2026 a Thira port fund rule was sending 70 percent of cruise passengers to the old port at Fira and 30 percent to Athinios, and on June 22, 2026 a tour-bus strike over it canceled every cruise call that day.

Prices for the basics jumped. The cable car between the old port and Fira cost €6 one way from 2017 to 2024 and has cost €10 since 2025. Greece's climate resilience fee rose in 2025 to €2 a room per night for one- and two-star hotels and rented rooms, €5 at three stars, €10 at four and €15 at five-star hotels and villas from April to October.

The donkeys are under more pressure than ever. About 100 donkeys and mules still work the stairs from the old port, and animal welfare groups have documented saddle wounds and falls. On September 5, 2026, donkey owners attacked three PETA activists protesting at the Karavolades stairs. The vineyards are under pressure too. Fortune reported in 2024 that Santorini's grape production had fallen almost 50 percent in 20 years as farmland turned into hotels, and the island's winemakers warned it could reach zero by 2041.

What the Usual Advice Gets Wrong

"You have to watch the sunset from Oia." Oia at sunset is a scrum of thousands on a few narrow lanes, followed by a crush for the last buses to Fira. The Faros lighthouse at Cape Akrotiri, the rim path near Imerovigli or a table above Ammoudi Bay give you the same sun dropping into the same sea.

"Ride a donkey up from the old port. It's tradition." About 100 animals haul people up 588 slippery steps in summer heat, and welfare groups have documented wounds from bad saddles. The cable car takes three minutes, runs every 20 minutes and costs €10. Walk down if you want the stairs, and expect to share them with the animals.

"Rent an ATV, it's the easy way to see the island." ATVs are mostly road-only, and the UK government warns that quad-bike crashes kill and injure tourists in Greece every year and that many insurance policies exclude them. Wikivoyage contributors describe rental shops handing over worn machines with basic insurance sold as full cover. The bus reaches every beach and village for €2.20 to €2.80.

"Santorini has some of the best beaches in Greece." The caldera side is cliff with no beaches at all. The outer coast has dark volcanic sand and pebble at Kamari, Perissa and Perivolos, and Red Beach sits under an eroding cliff. Come for the caldera and the swimming will be a pleasant extra. If beaches are the point, Naxos is two hours away by ferry.

"A caldera-view hotel is the only way to do Santorini." Room rates follow the view, the view comes with many stairs, and some caldera hotels don't take children under 13. The rim trail is free and public, so you can walk past every view in Fira, Firostefani and Imerovigli in an afternoon and sleep somewhere cheaper with a pool and a beach.

Ideas to Consider for Your Visit

Have you thought about walking from Fira to Oia? A trail follows the caldera rim north through Firostefani and Imerovigli, past Skaros Rock, and takes a little under three hours. Walk it northbound, which Wikivoyage contributors rate as the better direction, start by 08:00 from June to September, and carry water, because there's little shade, the surface turns rocky in places and parts run beside unfenced drops into the caldera. You end in Oia with a bus back every half hour. It's the best free thing on the island.

Give Akrotiri a full morning. The Bronze Age town buried by the eruption sits under a huge roof, so it works even in July, and you look down on streets and squares lined with multi-story houses whose walls still stand up to eight meters high. It was closed from 2005, after part of the old roof collapsed, until April 2012. A full ticket costs €20 in 2026, and buses leave Fira hourly for the 20-minute ride. Then see the frescoes and finds at the Museum of Prehistoric Thera in Fira, which most people skip.

If you care about food, eat the island rather than the view. Order fava, the yellow split-pea purée topped with onion or capers, and tomatokeftedes, fritters made with the sweet local cherry tomato. Look for chlorotyri, a fresh goat cheese, and apochti, cured pork rubbed with pepper and cinnamon. Wikivoyage's rule of thumb works, which is that a menu with moussaka but no fava is aimed at tourists. For fish, go to the small harbor at Vlychada and ask for the catch of the day.

Wine is the reason to cross to the island's interior. Santorini's Assyrtiko vines grow in low baskets to protect the grapes from wind, and they survived the phylloxera epidemic that wiped out most of Europe's vineyards. Estate Argyros, founded in 1903 and the largest private vineyard owner on the island, says its vines average more than 70 years old. Domaine Sigalas works the old plain of Oia, and its 1991 Santorini was the first wine labeled with the island's protected designation of origin. Try the vinsanto, a sweet wine aged for up to 20 or 25 years.

Climb to Ancient Thera on a morning when it's open. The ruins of the city that gave the island its ancient name sit on Mesa Vouno, 396 meters up between Kamari and Perissa, with views down both beaches. Entry is €10, and it's closed on Wednesdays and keeps 08:30 to 15:30 hours in summer. You can walk up the path from Kamari and down the other side to Perissa, or continue from Pyrgos past Profitis Ilias, the island's highest point.

Take a boat into the caldera itself. Excursion boats from the old port and Ammoudi go to Nea Kameni, where you climb a gravel path to the crater with steam and sulfur vents along the way. The independent alternative is a regular ferry or the island's own small boat, which locals call the pantoffla, to Thirassia, the other half of the old caldera, where about 270 people live and the village tavernas serve fava to locals rather than tour groups.

The Part Most Guides Miss

The best thing about Santorini is how much of it happens away from the rim. Pyrgos winds up through lanes to its castle, the best preserved of the island's five Venetian-era forts, and Emporio's castle quarter is a maze of whitewashed lanes with far fewer gift shops than Fira. Megalochori is a quiet hill village at the heart of the island's wine country. On the north coast, Baxedes beach near Finikia is quiet black sand, the way the island looked before mass tourism. None has a caldera view, which is why they still feel like villages.

Where to Base Yourself

Fira. The practical choice and the one we'd pick for a first trip without a car. Every bus line starts here, the airport is 10 minutes away and the port 15, and you're on the rim trail the moment you step out. The catch is the noise and the cruise crowds, which flood the lanes between the cable car and the main square on summer days. Rooms a few streets back from the caldera edge cost far less than those with the view.

Imerovigli and Firostefani. The caldera without Oia's crowds. These two villages run north from Fira along the rim, and both are an easy walk into town on the caldera path. It suits couples who want the view from their own terrace and can live with stairs and prices to match. Fira-Oia buses stop on the road above, but in summer they often pass full.

Perissa and Perivolos. The budget base, with four of the island's nine Hostelworld listings and dorm beds from about US$16 to $28. A 3-kilometer strip of dark sand runs from Perissa to Agios Georgios with beach bars and tavernas, and Ancient Thera is a walk up the ridge behind. The catch is distance. Fira is about 20 kilometers by road, the bus costs €2.70, and anything north means changing in Fira.

Pyrgos or Megalochori. For travelers with a rental car who want a village rather than a resort. Both sit inland on the south side, close to the wineries, with tavernas that serve locals and evenings that go quiet early. Fira is a short ride on the €2.20 bus lines. You give up the caldera from your window and the beach at your door, and in return you get some of the island's best food and a real village square.

Realities to Be Aware Of

Budget decides almost everything here. A shoestring day starts with a dorm bed at US$16 to $51 (about €14 to €46) on Hostelworld, mostly in Perissa and Fira, plus €2.20 to €2.80 bus rides and meals from bakeries and gyros counters away from the rim. Mid-range means a small hotel or rented room off the caldera, plus €2 to €5 a night in climate resilience fees from April to October. Comfortable means a caldera suite with a plunge pool and €10 to €15 a night in fees on top. Wikivoyage reports that caldera-view restaurants charge 30 to 50 percent more than places a few streets back.

Crime against visitors is low and pickpocketing is rare. The hassles are commercial. Order only where prices are posted, check a rental vehicle before signing, and don't let anyone sell you basic insurance as full cover. The physical risks are bigger. Low walls guard long drops along the rim, children and older travelers struggle with the steps, and cliffs shed rock after rain, as the port road did in March 2026. The UV index runs 9 to 10, so carry SPF 50 and stay off exposed trails between noon and 15:00.

This is an active seismic zone. Learn where your village's assembly point is, follow official instructions, and pay attention to any restriction on cliff paths or the old port. Santorini General Hospital at Karterados, just outside Fira, has run a 24-hour emergency department since it opened in July 2016, and smaller clinics serve Oia, Kamari, Pyrgos and Emporio. The most serious cases can still be flown to Athens, so get travel insurance. Tap water comes from desalination plants and is safe by EU standards but salty, and most people drink bottled.

Greece legalized same-sex marriage on February 16, 2024, and Santorini is used to gay couples. Vlychada's nude beach is popular with naturists. Crowds follow a clear pattern. Cruise passengers fill Fira between mid-morning and late afternoon, Oia fills for sunset, and the 30 minutes after sunset are the worst time to wait for a bus.

What things cost in Santorini

Prices checked October 2026. Each links to where we read it.

ItemPriceSource
Hostel dorm bed, mostly Perissa and FiraUS$15.85-51.14 (about €14-46) a nightHostelworld Santorini listings, Oct 2026
KTEL bus from Fira to Oia, the airport, Akrotiri or Kamari€2.20 (about $2.47); €2.70 to Perissa or Athinios portKTEL Santorini price list, May 2026
Ferry, Piraeus to SantoriniFrom €46.50 (about $52) on Blue Star, about 6 hours; from €89.70 on Seajets, about 5 hoursFerryhopper route page, Oct 2026
Ferry, Santorini to Heraklion, CreteFrom €15 on Blue Star, about 3 hours; from €92.70 on Seajets, about 1.5 hoursFerryhopper route page, Oct 2026
Cable car, old port to Fira, one way€10 (about $11.20); €5 children and per piece of luggageSantorini Cable Car price list, 2025 rates
Ancient Thera archaeological site€10 (about $11.20), €5 reducedWikivoyage Kamari, Oct 2026
Climate resilience fee, April to October, per room per night€2 rooms and 1-2 star, €5 3-star, €10 4-star, €15 5-star and villasKeep Talking Greece, Sep 2024
Cruise passenger landing fee, Santorini€20 June-September, €12 April-May and October, €4 November-MarchKeep Talking Greece, Jul 2025

Dollar figures use €1 to US$1.1225, the European Central Bank reference rate of October 2, 2026.

If Santorini Is Part of a Longer Trip

Santorini sits at the southern end of the Cyclades ferry lines, which makes it a natural turning point. Blue Star Ferries runs daily to Naxos in about two hours from €31.50 and on to Paros, with Seajets doing the same hop in a little over an hour for about twice the fare. South, Blue Star sails to Heraklion on Crete in about three hours from €15, and Seajets in about an hour and a half. Ferries also link Santorini with Ios, Anafi and Sitia. Use Naxos or Paros as the stop before Santorini rather than after, and you end your island run with the view.

Heading east, Blue Star connects Santorini with Rhodes up to six days a week in roughly 11 to 14 hours from about €25, which beats flying back through Athens and opens up the Dodecanese and the short hops to Turkey. From there, Istanbul and Izmir are within reach. For the north, Volotea has flown from Thessaloniki, and Corfu is easiest by connecting through Athens. If Santorini is one stop on a longer multi-country route, AirTreks can stitch an Athens arrival to an onward departure from Istanbul or another hub so you don't double back.

Yearly Things to Consider

Two things drive the year. Cruise ships and flights pile in from May to October, with July and August the peak. And most hotels and many restaurants open around Orthodox Easter and close at the end of October. Air traffic tells the story, from 22,218 passengers in January 2026 to 471,663 in August.

The counterintuitive move is late September into October. Daytime highs sit around 81°F (27°C) in September and 73°F (23°C) in October, and the island records barely any rain until mid-autumn. Akrotiri keeps evening hours, to 18:00 or later, through October except on Mondays and Thursdays. November is as warm as April on paper, at 67°F (19°C), but by then many hotels and restaurants have closed and the buses thin out. Winter is quiet and windy, with most of the year's rain falling from November to March.

Santorini month by month

MonthTempRainfallSeasonNotes
January58°F (14°C)2.1 inLowWettest stretch. Most caldera hotels shut, buses reduced, Ancient Thera by appointment.
February58°F (15°C)1.6 inLowWindy and quiet, with few hotels open.
March61°F (16°C)1.8 inLowHotels start reopening late in the month. Sea still cold.
April67°F (20°C)0.5 inShoulderOrthodox Easter opens the season. Cruise fee rises to €12 a head.
May74°F (23°C)0.3 inShoulderBest walking weather on the rim. Crowds building.
June82°F (28°C)0.1 inHighLong days, €20 cruise fee season begins. Book ferries ahead.
July86°F (30°C)0.0 inHighPeak cruise calls, full buses at sunset.
August86°F (30°C)0.1 inHighBusiest month at the airport. Hike only at dawn.
September81°F (27°C)0.1 inHighWarm sea, slightly thinner crowds after mid-month.
October73°F (23°C)0.6 inShoulderOur pick. Mild days, hotels close at month's end.
November67°F (19°C)1.3 inLowMild but shuttered. Ancient Thera opens Friday to Sunday only.
December60°F (16°C)2.1 inLowWettest month. Locals' island, few visitors.

Ideas for Itineraries

3 Days in Santorini

Base in Fira. Day one, walk the rim trail north to Oia in the morning, eat lunch above Ammoudi Bay, and take the bus back before sunset traffic starts. Day two, catch the 08:30 bus to Akrotiri for the excavations, continue to the lighthouse or Red Beach, and come back for the Museum of Prehistoric Thera in Fira. Day three, take the bus to Pyrgos, climb to the kastelli, taste wine at Estate Argyros or another of the inland wineries, and watch sunset from somewhere other than Oia.

5 Days in Santorini

Do the three-day plan, then add the south and the sea. Day four, take the bus to Kamari, climb to Ancient Thera in the morning (not on a Wednesday), and drop down the far side to Perissa for a swim and a late lunch. Day five, get on the water. Either join a boat to Nea Kameni's crater, or take a regular ferry or the island's pantoffla to Thirassia and spend the afternoon in a village where the tavernas still cook for neighbors.

1 Week in Santorini

Split the week. Spend three nights in Fira or Imerovigli for the rim, the walks and Akrotiri, then move to Perissa or Megalochori for four nights of beaches, wineries and slower evenings. Add Emporio's castle quarter, Vlychada's harbor for fish and its Tomato Museum, Baxedes beach on the north coast, and the hike from Pyrgos over Profitis Ilias to Kamari. Keep one evening free for the open-air cinema near Kamari in summer.

2 Weeks or More in Santorini

Two weeks on one small island is a lot unless you slow right down. Take a rented room in Pyrgos, Megalochori or Perissa rather than a hotel, shop at the Sklavenitis and Lidl supermarkets in Fira, Messaria and Perissa rather than the mini markets, and get to know one taverna well. Spend a few nights on Thirassia. Then use Santorini as the hub it is, with a ferry to Naxos for its beaches and mountain villages, or south to Heraklion and Crete, and come back for your flight out.

Sources

What this guide is built on. Every page below was read for this guide; prices and rules were checked in October 2026.

Santorini Travel FAQ

The flight is 30 to 45 minutes, but add the trip to Athens airport and check-in and the time savings shrink. The Blue Star ferry takes a little over six hours from Piraeus from €46.50, and you see Paros, Naxos and the caldera on the way in, which is the best possible arrival. Fly if you're short on days or prone to seasickness.

The 2025 swarm ended in late February, and the state of emergency was lifted on March 3, 2025. Visitors were back in numbers by summer 2026, and airport traffic through August was 4.5 percent up on 2025. The island remains seismically active, so learn your village's assembly point, stay off closed paths and follow official instructions if the ground shakes.

Yes. KTEL buses connect Fira with Oia, Kamari, Perissa, Akrotiri, Vlychada, the airport and the port for €2.20 to €2.80, and the rim trail links Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia on foot. A car helps only for the wineries and the villages between bus lines, and summer parking near the caldera is miserable.

It works better than its honeymoon image suggests, if you stay on the east or south coast. Kamari and Perissa have flat beaches, bigger rooms and hotel pools. The caldera villages are hard with small children, with long stairways, low walls above sheer drops, and some hotels that won't take children under 13.

Three full days covers the rim walk, Akrotiri, a winery and a sunset. Five lets you add Ancient Thera, a beach day and a boat to the caldera or Thirassia. More than a week makes sense only if you base yourself in a village and use the ferries for side trips to Naxos or Crete.

Big ships anchor in the caldera off Fira and tender passengers to the old port, where you choose between a 588-step climb, a donkey or a cable car that costs €10 each way and runs every 20 minutes. In high season Greece adds a €20 landing fee to your cruise fare. Some passengers now land at Athinios instead under the 2026 70-30 split, and that's a bus ride from Fira.